We're Back... A little older... a little more educated... and, quite honestly, a little EXCITED!!!

Olga Snyder’s Farm, saying goodbye to a beautiful day, with much grace, elegance, and love!

Hello Friends! I am at a place again where I need to revamp my website, evaluate where I am at, touch base with my faithful friends and supporters (most, I realize, are one and the same) and continue on this journey… hopefully with YOU!

I will graduate school in May and will receive my first university degree. It was a difficult decision to put my art business on hold but I was feeling that, due to other things that were happening at the time… moving, a terrifying health emergency my husband faced, and some difficulty adjusting to not having my sister Julie involved in the daily workings of the business, I felt I could not keep up with it. I do not miss the sewing, but I do miss you all.

Our customer base is special. We have not had one single negative interaction with one single ‘customer.’ Our customers are kind, intelligent, loving, imaginative folk. They have purchased so many ‘friends’ from us and, in doing so, have become part of a family. We keep in touch. I have changed our product lines time after time, offered questionable characters and experimented with designs that the general market would not support. Many of The Professional Bohemians family has followed Julie as well, as she has pursued dreams more personal to her, and continued to support her (see her work now here!!!). Everybody has not liked everything, and that is kind of what makes me realize the quality of customer I have. We have received honest, authentic, gentle feedback from our people through the years, about what they like to see and why they dislike certain changes when they arise. Nobody, has shared their thoughts with us negatively, or left us if we did not obey them (I know because I see those beautiful people pop in in interactions on my social media). I have felt safe and welcome in asking specific people their opinions about new designs and directions I would like to explore. This is not just a business anymore. It has somehow, at sometime, become ‘community,’ and I love that.

We are slowly moving our family back up to our farm in Northern Pennsylvania (HELLO northern friends!!!). I do not have room to have a full studio with sewing machines and fabric and all of the things needed to create my soft sculpture creatures at this time. I am not sure if that was something I could really only do with Julie or not. She was and, still is, such a big part of those magical beings. I do hope (Maggie!!!) to find my box of patterns and offer them to you guys, so you can make your children some of the toys that our children have loved all these years!

I have been sculpting my whole life (I considered our dolls rag or fabric sculptures, a fact that made it difficult to find many people who could help produce them: YAY Nancy Turner at Fine Linen and Scarlett!!!). When I started school and downsized our living space, I began to sculpt in clay again. I was delighted to find that it was easier than when I was younger… I did not have to think about how to do it, just envision something and feel it out of the clay.

My sister Tiffany and I were mesmerized by Babyclon’s full body silicone baby avatar design and we both looked at each other… we could do that! I launched into sculpting in every spare moment outside of my and my daughter’s classes. Tiff and I teased that we could sculpt babies with our eyes closed (we are some of the oldest of 13 children and have ALWAYS held babies). I love doing the sculpting. Tiff is brilliant with materials. She can guess what things will do in different settings and work her way through problems that arise in molding and casting. She is curious and innovative and adventurous. She has the biggest creative balls of anybody I have ever met and she is fearless when it comes to trying things out. We now have multiple molds and plan to offer a whole slew of creative whimsical fantastical creature babies… perhaps with the occasional human, as I am drawn to the challenge of sculpting figures and like to show that I don’t have to do strange things… but then, what isn’t strange about a baby made entirely of silicone??? We are indebted to our friend, Russ Faxon, for his encouragement, enthusiasm, and advice as we learn the ropes. We sincerely hope to ‘do him proud.’ You can visit his website here, and be surprised at how many bronze sculptures you recognize! His works hold down the streets and help give wings to the spirit of Nashville!

I hope to share great things this year… all kinds of sculpture, not just silicone babies. Please keep visiting my Etsy shop, website or social media spots to see if you like anything! Let me know what you think, and please share the things you like with your friends!

My family and I look forward to working on the Potter County Creative Council, creative placemaking initiative. If you are one of our crew from ‘up yonder,’ and you’re interested in getting involved, let me know. If you are also a rural artist in rural America and would like to see what we are up to and swap notes, I’ve started an Instagram account called Rural Artists Networking Team (RANTers) on Instagram. There’s not much happening there yet, but I hope to use that as a resource to get and stay connected with like-minds!

I am sorry this blog post is so long… I just wanted to tell you that I miss you. I am working to share my work again, and I am appreciative of all the support waiting for me every time I do. My children are older now, the youngest will be a teenager this year, and I will be transitioning into artwork instead of toys. I will adjust my website to absorb that change and, as it will be like I am also putting behind the life of early childhood delights, that I experienced with my four beautiful children (now adults and almost adult) it will be sad. I do not know how to express the gratitude I feel for you all, experiencing these things with us, in the support and connection surrounding our simple toy designs. I have not changed… my work has not changed… it is simply evolving.

I have tried to explain to several friends. In my mind, I have always done exactly the same thing. I have imagined life as magical, inclusive, loving, collaborative, hopeful and kind and created creatures, songs, and writings that I hoped represented that. I hope every piece of art I bring to life feels like an old friend! I hope when you see them, hear them, or read them, you feel loved.

Are you still with me? Well then, here we go! Thank you, ahead of time, for your patience, while I catch up to where I would like to be…

Sincerely Yours,

Eppie